Practice

Posted on: September 13, 2010

Gwynne Pugh Departs Pugh + Scarpa to Focus on Urban Design

By
Edward Keegan

Award-winning Santa Monica, Calif.–based Pugh + Scarpa Architects will no longer practice with its two named partners at the helm. Gwynne Pugh has started Gwynne Pugh Urban Studio, while Lawrence Scarpa and Angela Brooks will continue to operate as Pugh + Scarpa for the remainder of the year. That firm will change its name to Brooks + Scarpa in 2011.

In an interview, Gwynne Pugh notes that he’s interested in exploring urban design in more detail than he was able to at Pugh + Scarpa—although he’ll continue to work with some of the same clients on this aspect of their projects. “I will still have a traditional architecture practice, although urban design will be the focus,” Pugh says. On his first day of business on his own, Pugh is answering his own telephone, but he plans to collaborate with people who used to work at Pugh + Scarpa.

“Larry felt he wanted to go in his own direction,” Pugh notes. Scarpa amicably responds, “This is not unusual. It's a natural outgrowth of working together for 22 years, and, artistically, I’m ready for other things.”

Gwynne Pugh and Lawrence Scarpa led Pugh + Scarpa since its founding in 1991, garnering more than 50 local, state, and national AIA awards, including both the 2010 AIA National Firm Award and the 2010 AIA California Firm Award.